Antibanking car truck



Jan. 7, 1930. T. H. SYMINGTON ANTIB ANKING GAR 'IBUCK Filed Aug. 2', 1927 Patented Jan. 7, 1939 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE THOMAS H. SYMINGTOLT, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, 'ASSIGNOR mo '1'. H, SYMING-V TON & SON, "me, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATIQN or MARYLAND ANTI'BANKING CAR TRUCK 'Applicatibnfiled August 2, 1927. Serial No. 210,147.

known that it h'asbeen proposed, for instance asset forth in Patent No. 819,480 reissued as No.13-,'576 to Westlake to provide a construction wherein'or whereby the outer end of the body bolster, that 'is,the end above the outer rail at a curve, will be'caused to move upwardly for obtaining an automatic banking action, the upward movement depending of course upon the specific construction of what- "ever rollers may be provided as'part of the "side bearings, the movementoccurring as the resultbf the centrifugal force developed as the car rounds a curve.

In the course of experimentation, I have discovered that owing'to the superelevation-of the outer rail-on a curve substantially twentyfive per cent greater weight is imposed'on the inner rail thanf on theouter. Incase ofheavy equipment it is apparent tha't'this disproportionate distribution of'the load may result disastrously as it is conceivable'that the'inner rail, being subjected to an excessive strain,

may become dislodged or, possibly, damaged.

ltis also apparent that'the truck partsat the inside will very likely be subjected-to unusually severe strains and may, under some circumstances, actually fail'to-withstand them. It is with these facts in view that I have designed the present "invention which has for its general object the provision of means which willact automatically upon thedevelopment of centrifugal force when a car rounds a 'curve,toreduce thepressure exerted on the inner rail andcorrespondingly increase the load on the outer rail, thereby effecting a more uniform distribution of the strains.

The object ofthe invention, more specifi eally stated, is to provide a truck "having side bearings thereonof suchconstruetion that the an inner endof the body bolster will be raised mo're'than the outer end when the car passes "over curved track, th1s raising occurring simultaneously with lateral motion of the body bolster outwardly of the curve.

To the attainment of the foregoing objects and advantages, the invention c-onsists in or, comprises the broad features, arrangement and combination to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing which is of a rather diagrammatic nature and in which:

Figure 1 represents an elevation of truck and body bolsters equipped with side bearings of one form embodyingthe invention,

' Figure 2 is a similar "view showing a modification, and

Figure 3 is, a similar View illustrating et another modification.

Referring to the drawing (it will be -observed that no attempt has been made to illustrate any of the well known structural fea- 'tures of arailway truck as the invention is not intended to be limited in its application "to a truck of any particular'ty'pe. Such being the case it has been deemedfsuflicientto illustrate only such parts of atruclr'as willbe necessary togive acl'ear understanding/of the general "prlnclples involved.

In view of thefo'regoing explanation, the

numerals 1 andQ, designate, -respectively, the

truck and body bolsters which may be -mountedwithin any suitable side frames, the former being represented as resiliently supported uponsprings '3 carried by a sprink planke, and the latter being "of course adapted to be mounted beneath 'a'car body in the usual manner. No effort has been made to show any cen'ter'bearingsor other means for guid- -ing the bolsters during; relative swivelling movementofthebolsters though it should-be vunderstood that such may be provided if ffoundnecessaryor advisable, in which event they may be of any ordinary or preferred type.

bearings be of any desired specific construe-- tion capable of carrying out the object set forth above. The side bearings in the form disclosed in Figure 1 of the drawing comprise bearing members 5 and 6 secured with respect to the truck and body bolsters and having interposed between them a roller 7. The underside of the bearing member 6 may incline downwardly in both directions from its center to provide two inclined bearing surfaces 8 and 9, and the bearing member 5 may have its top surface upwardly. inclined from its center toward the center of the truck, to provide an inclined surface 10, the outer portion 11 being horizontal.

As mentioned above, there is no particular restriction in regard to these details and in Figure 2 I haveshown exactly the sametype of upper bearing member 6, and the same sort of roller 7, the difference being the employment of a somewhat different lower bearing member 12 having its upper surface 13 inclined downwardly and outwardly throughout. Another modification is illustrated in Figure 3 wherein the roller 7 operates between a lower bearing member 5, as in Figure 1, and an upper bearing member 14 having the outer portion of its underside inclined downwardly and outwardly, as at 15 and its inner portion horizontal as shown at 16. Various other combinations of inclined or curved surfaces may readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art and familiar with railroad practice. For convenience in explanation the ends of the body bolster in each View have applied thereto the referenceletters A and B.

In all forms of the invention the operation will be substantially the same and it will be observed that under normal conditions, that is when the car, is travelling along straight track, the body and truck bolsters will be in parallel relation. However, assuming that the truck shown in Figure 1 is passing over a track which curves to the right,

it will be apparent that the centrifugal force developed will cause the body bolster 2 to move laterally of the truck. When this move ment occurs, it will be apparent that the inclined surface 9 atthe A end andthe inclined surface 8 at the B end will ride on to the rollers 7 and that the roller 7 at the A end will pass along the horizontal surface 11, the roller at the B end ridin upwardly onto the inclined surface 10. learly, while both ends of the body bolster will be elevated, the end B will be raised more than the A end, thus compensating for the superelevation of the outer rail of the curve. If the truck passes over a track curved to the left, both ends of the body bolster will be elevated but the A end will be raised higher than the B end.

In the case of the truck shown in Figure 2, it will be apparent that if it passes over a track curved to the right, the roller 7 at the A end will roll down the inclined surface '13 the truck bolster upon while the roller at the B end will roll upwardly, thus resulting in a greater raising of the B end than the A end. The reverse is true in case the truck passes over track curved to the left, the A end thenrising more than the B end.

In the form disclosed in Figure 3, it will be apparent that when the body bolster 2 moves to the left, as the result of passing over track curved to the right, the roller at the A end will engage beween the two horizontal surfaces 11 andv 16 and will not rise at all whereas the roller at the B end will ride upwardly along the inclined surface 10 and beneath the horizontal surface 16, thus accomplishing the same elevation of, the B end. WVhen passing over track curved in the opposite direction the action will be reversed.

In all forms of the-invention it will be apparent that the action is the same and it is conceivable that other specifically shaped surfaces may be applied to equal advantage and that, if desired, specially constructed rollers might be provided either in conjunction'with horizontal bearing plates or certain appropriately curved or inclined ones. In fact, I reserve the right to make all such changes in the detailed arrangement and structural features as will fall within the spirit of the inventionand not constitute a departure from the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In a railway truck, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolster capable of lateral motion with respect to the truck, and roller bearing means for .raising the inner end of the body bolster to a greater height than the outer end thereof withrespect to the occurrence of lateral motion.

2. In a railway truck, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolster capable of lateral motion with respect to the truck, and

.roller bearing means interposed between the end portions of the bolsters for raising the inner end of the body bolster with respect to the outer end thereof with respect to the truck bolster upon the occurrence of lateral motion. V 3. In a railway truck, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolster mounted for lateral motion with respect to the truck, lateral motion rollers interposed between the bolsters, and means cooperating with the rollers for raising the inner end of the body bolster with respect to the outer end upon the occurrence of lateral motion.

4. In a railway truck, the combination of truck and body bolsters, the latter being mounted for lateral motion with respect to the truck, and cam means interposed between the end portions of the bolsters for raising the inner end of the body bolster with respect to the outer end upon the occurrence of lateral motion.

5. In a railway truck, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolster mounted for lateral motion with respect to the truck, and roller bearing means interposed between the end portions of the bolsters whereby when the truck passes over curved track and lateral motion of the body bolster occurs the end of the body bolster above the inner rail of the curve will be raised with respect to the other end.

6. In a railway truck, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolster mounted for lateral motion with respect to the truck, and

roller bearing means interposed between the end portions of the bolsters whereby when the truck passes over curved track and lateral motion 01": the body bolster occurs the end of the body bolster above the inner rail of the curve will be raised with respect to the truck bolster more than the end of the body bolster above the outer rail of the curve.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. THOMAS H. SYMINGTON. 

